BLOG

Do Some People Build Muscle More Efficiently than Others?

2009-12-09T22:22:51Z

All humans are not created equal people. For example, a thoroughbred race horse will respond to training and conditioning differently than a regular work horse. An individual's response to good diet and exercise will be dependent on a number of different factors: genetics will play a role of course, age, gender, and previous fitness level. If a person has been an athlete their entire life they may adapt quicker to a training regime than say someone who is just getting started.

To answer the question bluntly, some people will just build muscle mass more efficiently than others. I know, I know... it's not fair. But life isn't fair and people have to keep the bigger picture in mind. Everyone can achieve their goals if they remain consistent and execute the whole plan (rest, eating clean, exercise, water). It may be over a longer time line for some, but that should not matter. The benefits alone to a healthier lifestyle should be reason enough, not a mean to an end, but an accomplishment in itself. Keep working hard people!! For those of you whose goals are solely in the name of just looking good, remember that good looks are a result of healthy living. Quick results usually go away as abruptly as they appear.

Why Eat Every 2-3 Hours?

2009-09-29T14:29:20Z

I suppose this is a short question with a long answer. When you think about it, in the beginning when humans were just nomadic hunter-gatherers, there probably wasn’t breakfast, lunch and dinner time spent around the table. Food was found, preserved and distributed according with what was needed to survive. A typical day could have been spent foraging for food, running from predators, hiking to find shelter, resting and eating.

My point here is that our bodies were designed to operate at their full potential by eating through the day in 2-3 hour increments. This has a number of benefits, the main one being that your insulin levels stay at a constant. They never spike, therefore keeping your metabolism rate steady and achieving homeostasis in the body.

When the insulin levels in the human body spike, stress hormones are released in order to achieve balance once again with in the system. The brain senses this stress and will switch to what’s called the sympathetic nervous system. This is the part of the brain that’s in charge of fight or flight responses (survival mode). The body is prepared to do whatever it takes to survive, such as taking nutrients and storing them as fat.

After three hours of not ingesting food, the body can also go into what’s called a catabolic state where it turns to the muscle tissue for protein and begins to break it down. This is bad because muscle needs much repairing and aids in keeping the metabolic rate up. With less muscle and more fat, the body slows down and prepares for emergency…or hibernation.

Simply put, it seems to be much easier for the body to digest and process food into energy with smaller doses. Eating every 6 hours or longer probably seems a little like starvation to your system and therefore it perceives this as a problem. Ladies and gentlemen, we are simple creatures and we should not forget our origins. Our bodies were designed to do one simple thing: Adapt and survive. It’s easy to fall away from where we began. The world is a much different place than when we humans first came upon it, but if we can listen to our bodies and treat them with the respect they deserve, perhaps we will find that a few changes in habit are worth the effort.

Mind the Form!

2009-09-08T18:11:54Z

This one goes out to all the "old school" types who lift just to put up the big numbers and pay no mind to the form or quality of the movement. Ladies and gentlemen (more so the gentlemen), I realize putting up a large amount of weight on a squat, bench press, or bicep curl feels good and makes one feel accomplished, but without the proper form attached to those large numbers, you will eventually have to deal with the injuries that come with piss poor mechanics.

People will often rush through a progression and bump their numbers up on a lift just for the sake of putting up a few extra pounds, sacrificing proper movement mechanics. This creates compensations in the body and trains the brain to move the body with faulty movement patterns. After a while, these poor movement patterns cause asymmetries (imbalances in the body) that will eventually lead to injury.

Don't put the cart before the horse people! Take your time and don't rush. Nail down the proper form and movement pattern before raising the load that you're lifting. Your muscles, connective tissue and joints will thank you. After all, we lift weights and stay in good shape in order to enjoy an active lifestyle outside of the gym. They are tools we use to balance out our lives, whether they be sedentary, repetitive, stressful or all of the above. Minding proper form will allow for greater strength gains in the future and prevent injury as well. Putting up 10 or 20 more pounds before your body is ready isn't worth shoulder or back surgery.

WHEAT BERRY SALAD | SPROUTEDKITCHEN.COM

2009-08-18T00:10:07Z

Recipe from SPROUTED KITCHEN | Photos by Hugh Forte

WHEATBERRY SALAD WITH ARUGULA, CHERRIES AND POM DRESSING // Serves 4

1 Cup Wheat Berries
3 Cups Arugula
2 Cups Bing Cherries, pitted and cut in half
1 tsp Kosher Salt
Zest of one Lemon

POM DRESSING // This will look like a lot of dressing and seasoning, but the wheat berries are very dense and soak up a lot of the liquid from the dressing while in the fridge. Use less if you prefer, but it is what gives the wheat berries any flavor.

1 Shallot, roughly chopped
Big Handful of Fresh Fennel Fronds or Dill, Chopped
3/4 Cup Soft Goat Cheese
1/3 Cup POM, 100% Pomegranate Juice
2 tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
½ tsp. Cumin
1/2 tsp. Kosher Salt
2 tsp. Fresh Ground Pepper

1. Rinse the wheat berries in a strainer. Bring 4 cups of water to a boil, add the wheat berries. Boil for about 45 minutes or until tender and split open a bit, add water if they dry out before cooking. Put them in a large mixing bowl.
2. While the wheat berries are cooking, make your dressing. In a processor or blender, add the shallot, fennel frond/dill, POM, cumin and pepper. Blend to combine. Add the goat cheese and olive oil and give another whirl.
3. While the wheat berries are still warm add the dressing and mix. Let it cool for a few minutes. Add the arugula and cherries (and bacon if you please) and mix again. At this point, add the lemon zest and taste for salt and pepper. Don’t be shy with the seasoning.

~You can either serve at room temp, or chill in the fridge to let the flavors saturate and serve it as a cold side salad.

Endurance training or Strength training?

2009-04-13T00:19:31Z

There are only so many hours in the week and only so many of those hours can be dedicated to exercise and getting healthy. So how is a person supposed to decide which type of exercise will best suit their needs? Well, it depends on what your goals are. The general public would like to shed some unwanted weight and "lean and tone". Most folks measure their progress through the scale and by how many pounds they lose. As I have said before, this is not the most accurate measure of progress.

In order to lean out and raise your metabolism rate consistently, changing the percentage of fat mass to lean muscle mass (body composition) is the way to go. Many of you out there feel that cardio/ endurance training is the best way to achieve this change, but studies show that this is not the case. Most people consider cardio as exercising at a moderately intense level for extended periods of time (running, elliptical, walking, etc.). Although you are burning calories during this time, after you have burned through your fat and protein stores, the body needs more energy and will turn to the muscles for protein. For those athletes who train for long distance events over an extended period of time, the body's sympathetic nervous system will kick into gear and produce stress hormones which can affect sleep patterns, appetite, as well as increase the amount of fat the body will store.

So in essence, a significant amount of endurance training can decrease lean muscle mass and increase fat mass in the long run. Strength training, however, can do the opposite. The calories burned during a 45 minute, fairly intense strength training session will not match what is burned during a 1 hour + cardio session. This is true. What you may not know is that strength training ellicits enough stress on the musculoskeletal, lymphatic and nervous systems to keep your body burning calories up to 36 hours past the original workout. This will keep your metabolism rate up and busy working on repairs. By repairs, I'm talking about rebuilding muscle tissue. Strength training can be more efficient at changing overall body compostion and getting you to your goals.

A combination of strength and cardiovascular training seems to the best way to go: ie, strength training 3 days a week and cardio for two days a week. Again, this may not be for everybody, it all depends on what you're looking to accomplish. Of course a solid work out regime is kind of pointless without eating clean or getting sufficient rest. Short lived plans yield short term results. The focus must be to change your lifestyle habits, not just to alter them for a while.

April Boot Camp begins on Monday, April 6th!

2009-04-04T21:54:07Z

APRIL CAMP • $180
start date: april 6th/end date: may 1st

Join us in the morning for a functional movement class focusing on general strength and conditioning, proper posture, as well as flexibility training. Classes are designed to work with all levels of fitness, taking each individual through a gradual progression increasing stablilty, strength, and endurance.

Boot Camps are held outdoors in Dana Point, CA.
If you would like more information, please email info@jeremypricer.com

• sessions are held from 5:30 am - 6:30 am on mondays, wednesdays, and fridays
• be there RAIN or SHINE
• session fees must be paid in full and received no later than the first day of class
• there will be no make up sessions if you are unable to attend
• bring your mat, weights, foam roller, and water to every class
• be sure to eat before coming to class (power crunch bar, eggs, oatmeal)
• no purfumes, please

BRING AN EXERCISE MAT, A BEACH TOWEL, WATER, & ONE SET OF WEIGHTS (from 5-10 lbs)

Bonus Mini Camp!

2009-03-29T19:05:23Z

tel: 949.632.4830
email: info@jeremypricer.com

A few good ways to prevent injury and stay in the lineup

2009-03-13T02:09:31Z

From the dense koa wood boards used by Hawiian royalty to the light polyurethane tri-fins used today, technology in surfing has always been on the cutting edge. Using space age materials and experimenting with innovative new designs leaves the surfer with practically no physical limitations with movement. Whether you're riding giants or busting airs, wave riding has evolved and so should the way a surfer trains. Extreme maneuvers can lead to traumatic injury and after years of being in the water, lower back conditions, knee and shoulder injuries are common. But there are ways to strengthen the body and hopefully prevent some of this. Here are a few tips to keep you in the line-up.

Use a foam roller on a regular basis before surf sessions. Studies show that this can improve performance as well as help accelerate the healing process after a long day in the water. Using a foam roller increases blood flow to the muscle tissue, bringing nutrients to the area. It stimulates the lymphatic system, cleaning out all the toxins that build as a bi- product of activity. It can increase flexibility by releasing knots (adhesions) between the muscle tissue and the fascia. A few areas that you would want to focus on are the lats, upper back, hips and calves.
Train your core!! There are a multitude of ways to increase your core strength through various exercises. The body's core (abdominal layers, glutes, lower back) acts as a place to store elastic energy. Without a strong center, energy and momentum cannot flow through the body properly causing energy leaks. Torque can be distributed to the joints and supporting structures of the body (spine, shoulders, knees) instead of your elastic muscles causing trauma. Focusing on core strength can improve your balance, stability and explosiveness as well as agility.
Mind your form!! When training, proper form and pain free movement are key. People are not born with perfect symmetrical bodies and our lifestyles do not promote good posture. Most people, when they train, train within the limits of their dysfunction. They become stronger in their asymmetries and this can eventually lead to injury due to the stress these misalignments put on the joints and supporting structures of the body. You can train your body to become more aligned, thus preventing future injuries as well as improving movement patterns.
There's nothing wrong with strength/ weight training. There's a rumor out there that strength training can decrease flexibility. If you compliment weight training with flexibility training you should have no problems. When done properly, using weights in your strength routines can help improve bone density, strengthen connective tissue and improve endurance (anaerobic threshold).

March Bootcamp!

2009-03-06T20:43:24Z

Hello Ladies,

Just a reminder that the March Bootcamp begins on Monday the 9th and ends on Friday the 27th. Class starts at 5:30am and ends 6:30am. Come and get your day going the right way! Classes run Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please see the Bootcamp section of the website for more details as well as the Forms section for the necessary paperwork which is due the first day of class. See you there bright and early down at Dana Point Harbor.

March Camp: $135 (due the first day of class)

Warmup: Prepare your body and brain for work

2009-02-20T01:32:49Z

A warmup before an activity can comprise of many different things. It really depends on what it is you're trying to prepare the body for. A warmup for a yoga class will be different than a warmup for an explosive activity such as basketball. But, there are some general concepts that apply across the board.

First of all, you need to make sure your body is well rested, hydrated and fueled. This may not fall under your category of a warmup, but what is a warmup? Is it not a preparation for activity and movement of varying degrees of intensity? Do you drive your car without gas, a battery or water in the radiator? If you do I hope you've got strong legs and a sturdy back because your pushing that ride :)

Secondly, a thourough warmup should consist of dynamic stretching, not static stretching. This means that you should not hold any paticular stretch for a lengthy amount of time (longer than ten seconds). Dynamic stretching brings blood flow to the muscles and prepares the joints for movement by producing synovial fluid, allowing for smooth movement within the joints. Stand tall and pull the knee to the chest while balancing on the other leg engaging the glute. Take a step forward repeating this movement. Take your heel and pull it to your bottom, stretching the quadriceps keeping the knee in line with the hip. Repeat this movement while walking forward. Spread the feet apart and make sure your heels are flat on the ground and your feet are pointing straight ahead. Lunge to either side keeping your weight mostly in the heels, engaging the glutes as you stretch out the groin (adductors). These are just a few dynamic stretches you can do.

Lastly, it's not a bad idea to prepare your core muscles for work. Your core (hips, abdominal layers, glutes, lower back) are the link between upper and lower body. It is crucial that these are communicating with the brain and transferring energy from your feet all the way to the upper torso. If there is no communication taking place, energy leaks can occur forcing your body to compensate as well as disperse that energy to the joints, bones and other supporting structures causing stress. I'm not talking about crunches though. Planks, bird dogs, and bridges should suffice.

Enjoy your workouts people, but do your homework and prepare your body for movement. You will see improvements in your performance and in your recovery time. More to follow.....